Marriage Can Be Murder is an interactive comedy murder-mystery dinner show now showing at Hennessy's Tavern on Fremont Street.
Regular show ticket includes: 3-course meal (including tip), and 1 non-alcoholic beverage. RIP show ticket includes: first seating, 3-course meal (including tip), 2 alcoholic beverages, souvenir photo & t-shirt. VIP show ticket includes: priority seating, 3-course meal (including tip), 1 alcoholic beverage, and a souvenir t-shirt.
*Prices may be subject to additional taxes and fees.
**Show schedules may vary. Please see above link for more information.
(This show was reviewed in the June 2010 LVA; some of the information contained in the review may no longer be accurate.)
If you think we took our time in getting over to review Human Nature, it’s nothing compared to our stall on Marriage Can Be Murder, which we first mentioned in the August 1999 LVA when it debuted at the Showboat. The show jumped from venue to venue (including the Egg and I restaurant) before settling at Fitzgeralds, and we finally figured it was time to give it a try.
Wow! Now we wish we hadn’t waited so long—this is one entertaining way to spend a couple of hours. The format is all-out audience participation and from the moment you arrive, you’re part of the show and involved in the murder investigation. Don’t worry, it’s so completely immersive, you won’t feel self-conscious if one of the cast members talks to you or asks a question. Fact is, you may not even know when one is, which is the beauty of it. Aside from a few obvious players (including the hostess and the cop), you don’t know who’s in the cast until they “die.”
Here’s how it works. Critical to the show is the prelude, when you order your food and wait for things to get going. Everyone wears a name tag. This is when that night’s show gets plotted. The cast memorizes names from the tags and bits of information they get in casual conversations and it’s off to the races from there. Yes, they adhere to a central plot, but the personalization that makes the show so good comes from ad-lib and improv. The audience is so into it that you’re certain half of them are plants, but they aren’t. It’s fast, funny, a little naughty, and it comes with a three-course meal that doesn’t suck (beef, chicken, or salmon).
It wasn’t just us; everyone we talked to after the show was smiling. Go with a group for optimal enjoyment.
The deal on this one is interesting. We typically opt away from the more expensive VIP seats, but here there’s a case for it. For the $16.50 difference, you get $10 in slot play, a free drink, and a T-shirt. Drinks are $5, so you make up roughly $15 on the drink and free-play. If a $1.50 MCBM T-shirt sounds like a deal, go for the upgrade. Also, you should have no problem finding a $10 discount in the freebie mags, which can be applied to either ticket.